Last night's class mentioned Liquefaction - soil and moisture can act like a liquid if perturbed. Here are two excellent videos on the subject:
The first is in the lab - a container of sand and water. From Youtube:
This video, courtesy the Illinois Geological Survey, shows how earthquake liquefaction can affect buildings and buried structures. The concept presented is elementary but will provide you a basic understanding of what happens when saturated soils are shaken by earthquakes. The brass weight represents a building or structure and the ping pong ball represents a buried storage tank. Video Credit: Robert A. Bauer; Illinois Geological Survey
This next one is from the 9.0 quake in Japan. Youtube:
This video was taken just moments after the 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011 in Central Park of Makuhari, Chiba City, Japan. It shows fissures moving and water from liquefaction coming to the surface. (There were no broken water pipes, as I initially wondered.)
There are parts of Bellingham that were built on fill and were once bodies of water. There is a lot more to deal with than just the shaking...
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